Our first SupportSaturday (our second "Install, Upgrade and Tweak-Fest") held on Saturday December 5th 2009 was a major success. A huge thank you to all of our Support Heroes who made this event happen. Kim, Stefan, Mark, James, Roscoe, Sid, Rex, Janet, Larry, and Michael: you really came together with a great event and stunned everyone. Job well done.

Events like these really help put Ubuntu Vancouver on the map and are a great way to spread Ubuntu all across the city by showing people that great software is indeed made better with great community. People came for help and left feeling the Ubuntu spirit. Problems solved with a friendly smile. People came for demos and information and left feeling enthusiastic about Ubuntu!

Let's get an even bigger crew together and make our next SupportSaturday even more amazing. Email me if you'd like to be added to the roster of Support Heroes. We're already planning the next event.

Finally, there will be a short presentation about our first SupportSaturday, complete with photos at our upcoming General Meeting on Friday December 18th. Please RSVP "Yes" here: http://www.meetup.com/ubuntuvancouver/calendar/11871100/

Cheers,
Randall
Ubuntu Vancouver Buzz Generator

Historical Infomation

If you are planning to help organize the event and/or be at the event as a helper, then add your name to the list below. Also please subscribe to this page. VERY VERY VERY IMPORTANT!! Click here to do that https://wiki.ubuntu.com/CanadianTeam/Vancouver/SupportSaturdays/PlanningFirstSession?action=subscribe

Please add your notes and information. In general, it's better to add comments and information that clarify what's already here.

This page can be a template for future SupportSaturdays, if we make it detailed!

Our first SupportSaturday will run under the theme Install, Upgrade, and Tweak-Fest II. It is scheduled for Dec. 5th 9am - 3pm. (The first hour will be for set-up. The venue will open to the public that has RSVP'd at 10am. Others will be admitted at 11am (the time posted on the public signs/flyers). Support activities need to be concluded by 2:30pm to allow tear-down and clean up.)

There will be a "dress rehearsal" on Thursday Dec 3rd at 6:00pm, regular meeting place. We'll use that time to test the plan, the equipment, and to ensure we haven't forgot anything.

Venue

The venue location is Room 219G in Building B of the VCC Broadway Campus (1155 East Broadway). Building B is the brand new building on campus that faces the north parking lot (on 7th). For those who drive to the campus and park in the lot, just walk through the front entrance and go past the Bookstore and elevators to the back end of the building. 219G is just to the left.

For those who enter the campus from Broadway, please walk all the way to Building B and go to the ground floor of the building. Turn to the back of the building and find 219G.

The VCC website has a map of the campus location: http://www.vcc.ca/about-vcc/contact-us.cfm

The room is a classroom with an U-shaped table setup. The size is 9m x 6m (roughly estimated!). It has:

ToDo

Lessons Learned

Please document any lessons learned from prior support events (e.g. Windowless Wednesdays, install-fests, etc.). We'll use that information to make SupportSaturdays stronger. No need to repeat mistakes.

Equipment List

Materials List

A Short Guide to Getting Help

Here are some topics to cover:

The goal is to provide a concise and well-edited guide for people as a take-away. It should stress Vancouver-specific advice, getting involved in the Loco, and community participation. It should be aimed at teaching people "How to Fish", and not aimed at "selling fish."

Questions to Ask "Helpees"


1. Are you coming for assistance? If so, please tell us briefly what services you need.
2. Please tell us about your computer. What hardware is it? (Make, model, RAM, CPU, disk space)
3. Are you currently running Ubuntu on this hardware? If so, which version?
4. Do you have a recent backup of your personal data? (If not, we highly recommend that you copy all data to an eternal disk. If you need help doing this, please let us know here)
5. Please specify your email address. This will only be used if we need to gather more information in order to prepare to help you.

Dress Rehearsal

There will be a "dress rehearsal" on Thursday Dec 3rd at 6:00pm, regular meeting place. We'll use that time to test the plan, the equipment, and to ensure we haven't forgot anything.

Participants

Name

Help Plan?

Attend Event? (from/to)

Preferred Involvement

Stefan T.

yes

not attending

planning, setting up mirror/PXE

Kim K.

yes

all day

whatever needs doing

James

yes

morning

setup, demo and installs

Larry R.

no

noon to 3

installs, fixes, tweaks

Randall R.

yes!

all day

marketing, signs, hospitality, light fixes/tweaks

Sid M.

yes

all day

marketing, tour guide, student liaison

Sean

yes

not attending

installs, Active Directory compatibility/Likewise, WINE configuration

Roscoe R.

yes

all day

planning, installs, desktop introduction to newbies

Mark C.

yes

all day

installs, fixes, tweaks

Rex Alemi (RA)

yes

all day

event facilitation

Event Marketing

We have essentially three things going on at the session: 1) A support/install event (the focus) 2) One-on-one demos 3) A slide-show, with light presentation material

Our marketing should consist of poster(s), web postings, and emails.

The first thrust will be to get as many people as possible in the Ubuntu Vancouver Loco signed up for the event (in the spirit of fixing our own group and making it stronger so we can help more people at future events). Randall will email the group at least 3-4 times to encourage everyone to come and get their issues fixed. Scheduled mailings: 11/24, 11/25, 11/26.
** update 11/26/2009: Low RSVP rate inside the LoCo. Only 4 people RSVP'd with requests for help/installs. We should likely open the install/support event to the public after 11am. (This will give internal support requests a head-start, and priority.

Once we've got our own group signed up, we'll begin the marketing thrust to the public.
** update 11/28/2009: Flyer artwork is done, and is posted here: support_saturday.pdf
Please print as many as you can and post them in public places. (Coffee shops, grocery stores, Community centres, libraries, colleges, universities... everywhere!)

Ubuntu: The world's most popular free operating system. In a word: Amazing! Ubuntu Vancouver cordially invites you to a public support session. Skilled Ubuntu enthusiasts will be on hand to answer questions, demonstrate Ubuntu's diverse capabilities, help you install it, fix issues, and to upgrade to the latest version of Ubuntu: 9.10 Karmic Koala.

Got issues? Bring your computer. We'll do the rest. Just want a demo? Bring yourself! We'll show you Ubuntu's magic.

** This event is FREE, just like Ubuntu. Donations are gladly accepted, if you feel the urge.**

Here is the <proposed> text that will appear regarding the demos/presentation:

Ubuntu: The world's most popular free operating system. In a word: Amazing! Ubuntu Vancouver cordially invites you to information session and demonstration about Ubuntu! Skilled Ubuntu enthusiasts will be on hand to answer questions and to demonstrate Ubuntu's diverse capabilities.

Plan to drop in! We'll show you Ubuntu's magic.

** This event is FREE, just like Ubuntu. Donations are gladly accepted, if you feel the urge.**

Incoming Support Issues

Goal: Help as many people as possible with the highest quality possible. Avoid "try-this-try-that" method of troubleshooting on-site, to maintain credibility.

Terminology:
"Support Hero": A volunteer who is attending the event to offer assistance, or has been part of the planning process.
Requestor: A person that has RSVP'd "yes" for the event and has indicated that they need assistance.

Suggested Help Procedure (pre-event):
1) "Support Hero" reaches out to Requestor via email, acknowledging the request and asking the Requestor to quickly scan a list of bug reports, if applicable.
2) Requestor responds with more info. This could be a bug number, or more descriptive information about the issue.
3) "Support Hero" asks Requestor if s/he would be comfortable filing a Launchpad Question. If so, Requestor submits question to: If so, skip to step 5. If not, skip to step 4 below.
4) "Support Hero" submits a Launchpad Question describing the issue on Requestor's behalf.
5) "Support Hero" monitors Launchpad responses to question, and conducts further research.

Suggested Help Procedure (at event):

This is a collection of the RSVP responses from people who are coming for specific help:

Issue #1:

1

2

3

4

5

(./)

RR

“Only issue since my jump to Karmic is getting gnome-pilot and jpilot (PalmOS) back to syncing...since the upgrade it seems to be broken.”
Lenovo T400 laptop, 3GB RAM, Intel Core2Duo 2.53 GHz, 320 GB drive, dual-booting w/ WinXP ”
Are you currently running Ubuntu on this hardware? If so, which version? “Yes - recently upgraded from Jaunty to Karmic (plain-vanilla Ubu)”
Do you have a recent backup of your personal data? (If not, we highly recommend that you copy all data to an eternal disk. If you need help doing this, please let us know here)
“Yes, I have sbackup set up to do this automatically, and routinely copy the auto-backups off to a home network drive. ”

Issue 2:

1

2

3

4

5

(./)

LR

Description: “fix up sound on laptop after karmic update; get grub to work again after windows partition reinstall on my desktop”
“laptop: hp elitebook 2530p desktop: 1gb ram; Intel Core 2 Duo processor”
“laptop: karmic
"desktop: intrepid”

LR: I can help with the grub issue, and will research the laptop sound issue tonight.

Issue 3:

1

2

3

4

5

(./)

RR

“Everytime I boot up, I need to do some command line magic to get my wifi working. I'd like to better understand how it works, and fix it.”
“Dell Inspiron 1525; Broadcom BCM4312 wifi card”
Are you currently running Ubuntu on this hardware? If so, which version? “9.10”
Do you have a recent backup of your personal data? (If not, we highly recommend that you copy all data to an eternal disk. If you need help doing this, please let us know here) “Yes.”

Issue 4:

1

2

3

4

5

(./)

RR

Are you coming for assistance? If so, please tell us briefly what services you need.
“9.10 is unstable on my six year old PC.”
Please tell us about your computer. What hardware is it? (Make, model, RAM, CPU, disk space)
“DELL Dimension 2400 with 1.5 GB RAM - full Sys Info available upon request.”
Are you currently running Ubuntu on this hardware? If so, which version?
“ubuntu 9.04 in Ext4 root partition separate from /home Ext3 partition.”
Do you have a recent backup of your personal data? (If not, we highly recommend that you
copy all data to an eternal disk. If you need help doing this, please let us know here)
“All 13 CDs full, yup!”

Issue 5:

1

2

3

4

5

Are you coming for assistance? If so, please tell us briefly what services you need.
“Install new Ubuntu. Operate one of the CD players and figure out if the other is OK. Reduce start-up time. Learn Ubuntu email”
Please tell us about your computer. What hardware is it? (Make, model, RAM, CPU, disk space)
“Not sure where to find the info. It has lots of RAM. I don't store high-byte files like movies. ”
Are you currently running Ubuntu on this hardware? If so, which version?
“yes, last year's.”
Do you have a recent backup of your personal data? (If not, we highly recommend
that you copy all data to an eternal disk. If you need help doing this, please let us know here)
“no. I need the help”

Issue 6:

1

2

3

4

5

Are you coming for assistance? If so, please tell us briefly what services you need.

Please tell us about your computer. What hardware is it? (Make, model, RAM, CPU, disk space)

Do you have a recent backup of your personal data? (If not, we highly recommend that you copy all
data to an eternal disk. If you need help doing this, please let us know here)

Issue 7:

1

2

3

4

5

Please tell us about your computer. What hardware is it? (Make, model, RAM, CPU, disk space)

Are you currently running Ubuntu on this hardware? If so, which version?

Do you have a recent backup of your personal data? (If not, we highly recommend that you copy all data to an eternal disk. If you need help doing this, please let us know here)

Issue 8:

1

2

3

4

5

Are you coming for assistance? If so, please tell us briefly what services you need.

Please tell us about your computer. What hardware is it? (Make, model, RAM, CPU, disk space)

Are you currently running Ubuntu on this hardware? If so, which version?

Do you have a recent backup of your personal data? (If not, we highly recommend that you copy all
data to an eternal disk. If you need help doing this, please let us know here)

CanadianTeam/Vancouver/SupportSaturdays/Planning/Session1 (last edited 2010-03-25 18:06:50 by 96)